In the body of literature that situates service-learning within social justice or critical pedagogy, researchers and practitioners have written about the role service-learning plays in students' journeys from privileged, dominant culture backgrounds to an understanding of the lives people lead in non-dominant communities (Arries, 1999; Camacho, 2004; Dunlap, Scroggin, Green, & Davi, 2007; Kiely, 2004, 2005; Mitchell, 2008; Pompa, 2002; Rockquemore & Schaffer, 2000). Researchers have also tackled the thorny topic of service-learning's role in reinforcing students' hierarchical perceptions and attitudes toward non-dominant partner communities (Boyle-Baise & Kilbane, 2000; Eby, 1998; Morton, 1995; Pompa). Furthermore, with critical service-learning students examine social constructs that create inequalities while encouraging them to accept responsibility for implementing social justice-oriented change (Mitchell, 2008). However, I suggest that similar critical examination of faculty's own practices as service-learning practitioners is equally important, so as to constantly monitor our own attitudes and behaviors, which students and community participants may regard as models for their own interactions. Therefore, in this paper I document my own transformative journey, exploring my role as the instructor of an academic course for Spanish and education students, Crossing the Border through Service-Learning (CTB). As the person who designed and implemented the course that brought students in contact with a hitherto unfamiliar population, I realized I was unconsciously creating social hierarchy and patronization through a workday each semester when university students delivered material goods to partner families while meeting each other for the first time. My situation was particularly perilous since I had gained insider-outsider status in the immigrant community by collaborating and serving in various capacities for more than 30 years, always secure in the assumption I had "figured out" my role in the Spanish-speaking community, with the accompanying supposition that my actions were good for all concerned, students and families alike.
